my pug is 4 years old, 2 years ago she had a slipped disc which resulted in a long vets stay, loads of tests and then cage rest for weeks. then the vet said due to muscle wastage it was now apparent that her hip joint wasnt formed correctly( too shallow) and she would need an operation to remove a part of it. after the op she has had a series of physio twice but basically she is now quite badly disabled, and cant walk more than a couple of minutes without discomfort. she is currently on naturediet and i wondered if anyone has had good results with some of the senior dry foods such as james wellbeloved which have special ingredients to help ease joints?

why not supplementwith glucosamine and chondroitin? I buy mine here (the a30f) :)

There are many things you could try but you're better off going with a supplement rather than a food with supplements added as they're likely to only be very small amounts and I don't expect they will make much, if any, difference.

Some ideas off the top of my head :D ...glucosamine/chondroitin, devils claw, fish body oil, vitamin E, green lipped mussel, bromelain etc. If you use the search function they should all come up.

What about hydrotherapy?

I think it would be worth a try. I use Eukanuba large breeds light which has joint mobility additives and also give our bernese Cortaflex as a preventative measure - so far so good. If she is happy with natures diet then stick with it and give her the supplement instead. You can buy glucosamine and chondroitin at human health shops and give it to dogs.

Another gimmick to sell the public food.  We now have diets for teeth, hair, joints not to mention breed specific ones.

What percentage of the joint aid ingredients are in the food, what percentage per meal.  How much is required.  What is its usable date etc etc etc?  How bio available is it?  What quality is it?

If you wish to give supplements of any kind it is probably more effective, not necessarily cheaper, to provide a good basic diet and add specific ones that are of the quality you want.

I give my dogs MSM, glucosamine and chondroitin.  The veterinaly formulae are, IME, considerably more expensive than those available for humans and as the latter are perfectly safe I prefer to administer these as there is also more choice.

Healthspan do a good range of joint aid products.  I give glucosamine optiflex which is in a form that is more bio available than the regular KCE,  along with chondrotin.  I also give MSM via a separate product, also from this company.

Another good joint aid is the regular administration of Fish Body Oil capsules with a high level of DHA/EPA; again Healthspan do several varieties.  I use the concentrated form and give Vitamin E (natural not synthetic).

Vitamin C is also good for collagen repair,

OTC products available from supermarkets often do not have the information you need when supplementing.

So if I was in your position (well I am sort of) I would continue to give a very good diet which naturediet is, along with added specific supplements.  Allow 6 weeks minimum for any changes.

There are other products recommended for this type of thing such as Devils Claw, Turmeric, Bromelain etc

thanks everyone for the advice seems the best way to go is supplements which im glad about as i am very pleased with naturediet, and i will also look into hydrotherapy, as she is getting hardly any exercise now she is getting slightly overweight so maybe hydrotherapy will help with that as well!
cheers
emma

Hi
Really sorry to hear about your pug. A really, really important factor here is weight. When the joint is damaged, weight stress is the worst thing for it. So even though you are going to get hydro, cut back on the food also, if she isn't getting much exercise she doesn't need as near as much food as she used to have, and exercise alone won't do it. If anything, you need to aim for a slightly underweight dog. I do speak from experience having had 3 dogs with joint problems.
Good luck, and I hope you manage to improve her life (quite sure you will!)
Kat

Any thoughts on omega 3 fish oil for dogs? is this ok for them??